National Art Education Association

The Practice of Art EducationAuthor(s): Paul E. BolinSource: Art Education, Vol. 52, No. 3, The Practice of Art Education (May, 1999), pp. 4-5Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3193798 .

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Art EdUcation rowing up, few of us escaped the admonition, "Practice makes perfect." From the ball field to the drawing table to the piano bench these words continue to resound. Repetition of per- formance, for the purpose of perfection, has been and often continues to be a driving force behind much ofwhat we do and expect from others. We have been taught that hard work

should culminate in perfection, and that perfection yields prestige. Yet, should perfection and prestige be the primary motivations for our practice?

There seem to be at least two principal reasons to question whether perfection should be the single- minded incentive behind our practice. First, perfection, in most of life's meaningful endeavors, is an elusive state. Can we reach the position of perfection when engaged in our most significant struggles? What are the qualities of the "perfect" parent? What characteristics make up the "perfect" teacher? What determines the "perfect" artist? Answers to these formidable questions are impossible to know.

Perfection carries with it notions of "completeness," "exactness," and "flawlessness," descriptors far removed from what it means to live in the world. Moreover, how do we know when a condition of perfection is reached? If it were achieved through practice, would the attainment of perfection bring with it a corresponding sense of ideal satis- faction? For most of us, the zealous pursuit of perfection leads to frustration rather than to fulfillment.

Second, with perfection as the standard of our purpose and the motivation for our practice, it is easy to lose sight of the various significant experiences we encounter through the multitude of life's engagements. Doing so, we may fail to embrace the

I -'-"gI^~ ~ many possibilities for enrichment and exploration that present themselves along life's I _,o u rn journey. With the goal of perfection in our focused viewfinder, we easily

~; w i Bife - miss out on the richness of broad intellectual and physical play that mani- Hr KiB^ ^^^S fests itself through the abundance of meaningful practices that cross our

path each day. For these reasons, I believe that in most areas of life we should become engaged in the practice of seeking diverse possibilities rather than in emphasizing the narrow pursuit of selective perfection.

In considering the practice of searching out and working with diverse possibilities, I am reminded of a short conversation involving two char-

ART EDUCATION / MAY 1999

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acters in the book, The Name of the Rose (1983). The discussion takes place between the Franciscan Brother William of Baskerville and his young understudy, Adso of Melk. The set- ting for their conversation is in the year 1327, in a magnificent Franciscan abbey, where a series of murders occurs. William and Adso visit the abbey in an effort to solve the crimes. The mystery surrounding the recent deaths is linked with the abbey's immense library, and the fervent search therein for a particular book. Scrutinizing the relentless detective work of his mentor, Adso reflects on William's methods as a sleuth:

I understood at that moment my master's method of rea- soning, and it seemed to me quite alien to that of the philoso- pher, who reasons by first principles, so that his intellect almost assumes the ways of the divine intellect. I understood that, when he didn't have an answer, William proposed many to himself, very different one from another. I remained puzzled.

"But then..." I ventured to remark, "you are still far from the solution...."

"I am very close to one," William said, "but I don't know which."

'Therefore you don't have a single answer to your ques- tions?"

"Adso, if I did I would teach theology in Paris." "In Paris do they always have the true answer?" "Never," William said, "but they are very sure of their

errors." "And you," I said with childish impertinence, "never com-

mit errors?" "Often," he answered. "But instead of conceiving only

one, I imagine many, so I become the slave of none." I had the impression that William was not at all interested

in the truth, which is nothing but the adjustment between the thing and the intellect. On the contrary, he amused him- self by imagining how many possibilities were possible. (pp. 367-368)

This issue of the journal is focused toward imagining a vari- ety of possible possibilities within and about the practice of art education. There are, of course, many more possible practices than discussed here, but the following articles offer a range of considerations. Karl Michel uses the ideas of Marion Richardson as a motivation for the visualization work conduct-

ed with his middle school art students. This art instruction emphasizes a relationship between visual art and poetry. students in Stephen Galvin's ceramics class "turned the tab on their middle school teacher, when they gave him a test in ceramics. Galvin discusses the educational merits of this ev ation experience. In turn, David Wheeler describes a puppe theater residency he conducted with elementary school stu dents in Anchorage, Alaska, that focused on a theme, 'The History of Alaska." Mike Nelson and William Chandler use the events and results of an inservice seminar they conducted to explore a more integrated approach to teaching art and science. Early childhood education is the focus of Charles Bleiker, who examines the important place of "self' that a young child mani- fests in drawings. This issue concludes with an article by Michelle Kraft, who examines the funding inequities in sec- ondary school visual art programs. She offers ideas and sugges- tions for how teachers can deal with this monetary disparity. Kraft's article does not show the "practice" of art education in a direct way, yet her work addresses issues of context wherein much art education occurs.

Diverse practices, such as these, bring a broad and benefi- cial richness to the field of art education. Our purpose in carry- ing out our practice is not, ultimately, to attain perfection, but rather for us to appreciate and learn through our various endeavors in art education and in life.

Paul E. Bolin Editor

REFERENCE Eco, U. (1983). The name of the rose. (W. Weaver, Trans.). San Diego, CA:

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

MAY 1999 / ART EDUCATION

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